11 July 2022 | Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing
Tasmania’s fastest pacer Sunny Sanz claimed another feature in Tasmania over the sprint trip when scoring in the Bevan Lee’s Butchery Golden Mile in Launceston on Sunday night.
From barrier two on the second row, ace reinsman Gareth Rattray positioned the pacer one-out and two-back off a solid tempo in a speed map that was quickly thrown out the window, with race favourite Similan Beach caught three-wide for the duration of the race.
Gareth produced Sunny Sanz three-wide at the 800m before sweeping to the lead turning for home to race away and score by 5m over Be Major Threat and Montana Storm in a mile rating for the 1680m of 1m 56.0s with the quarters ran in 28.3s, 30.3s, 29.4s and 28.4s.
“Gareth drove him well and he (Sunny Sanz) finished the race off well,” said trainer Kent Rattray post-race.
Sunny Sanz broke the state record in Hobart on 29 May, before two disappointing efforts.
“I think he is going as well as he has ever gone.
“I have spoken to a few people, and maybe we flattened him in Hobart when he went 1:54.1, and we probably backed him up a bit quick. So with that in mind I left a bit more of a gap coming into this,” explained Kent.
“I’ll just take him home, look after him and pick out another race in three or four weeks,” added the trainer.
The win was the last leg of a double for Gareth and Kent, who teamed up to win with Julepe Sanz, a two-year-old daughter of Betting Line, earlier in the night.
Settling five-back the pegs from inside of the second-row, Gareth was able to lead up the one-wide line for the final half-mile with the filly proving too tough in what was a survival of the fittest late, with a 62.2 last 800m.
Gareth rounded out his night with a treble after driving the Leigh Rand-trained Aussie Rock to an all-the-way win.
Charlie Castles and Jacob Duggan were the only other drivers on the card to record multiple wins, with a double each.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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